If you are one of the more than 240 million users of Live/MSN Messenger and you have a web browser on your phone then as of today you can stay signed-in to Live messenger even when you're out and about. If you follow http://mobile.live.com from your phone you *should* see the link to login. This guy has got screenshots.
Unfortunately there seems to be a little foible with it. When I went there I saw the same screen that I would have seen had I gone there yesterday. I don't know why, maybe its cached on my phone or something. Anyway, the trick to getting this working is as follows:
- Go to http://mobile.live.com/GoLive/ from your desktop computer
- Click "Messenger beta"
- Click the "Send To Mobile" link
You'll receive a text message with a link that you can open to start using the service.
Obviously this service suffers a few problems because of its inherent delivery mechanism. There is no way of being notified that someone has sent you a message (unless you refresh the page) so really the only way this becomes useful is if you start the conversation yourself. Indeed, as I was writing this blog entry I got a call from James who said to me "Why haven't you replied to my IM message?" The reason was that I didn't know he'd sent it because I was signed in on my mobile!
Aside from that fairly gargantuan barrier to adoption it suffers a few other problems. Its inherently obviously pretty slow. And until unlimited data tariffs are introduced its going to be costly if you use it a lot. Parents watch out!
I fully expect Microsoft to come out with a mobile client app for Live Messenger (hopefully cross-platform) in the not too distant future but until then, this is the best option.
-Jamie
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Live Messenger